Chief Architect - Cloud & AI

Job Description

Overview

The Cloud + AI CSA is Microsoft’s senior Azure delivery and strategy expert. They bring deep technical expertise across all Azure workloads and advise both Customer Success leaders and customer executives. Their mission is to drive AI, Infrastructure, Apps, and Data strategies that maximize consumption, optimize MACC usage, and turn underperforming agreements into business value. They work across the business on specific prioritized accounts to drive customer Azure technical strategy and Azure Architectural best practices resulting in multi-year Azure committed pipeline and delivery consumption plans for existing MACC and Unified agreements]. [Close paragraph by mentioning if there is a flexible work opportunity and state whether someone can work from home partially or fully].Step into a role where your expertise shapes the technology strategy for some of the UK’s most ambitious enterprises. This role sits in the Sales organisation and is focused on our largest customers who have made commercial commitments to Azure. As a senior technical leader and Azure strategic expert, you’ll be responsible for driving delivery excellence, technical innovation, and strategic execution across large and complex Azure and AI engagements. In this pivotal Chief Cloud and AI Architect position, you’ll partner directly with C-level executives and senior stakeholders to align technology with business objectives—ensuring security, resilience, and performance at every level. If you’re passionate about making a measurable impact and leading cloud transformation at the highest level, this is your opportunity to shine.We’re seeking a Chief Cloud and AI Architect with deep expertise across Azure workloads, including AI, Applications, Infrastructure, and Data, who is passionate about solving complex challenges and helping enterprise customers accelerate their digital transformation. In this senior, customer-facing role, you’ll lead strategic technical engagements, advise C-level executives, and partner with Customer Success Leaders to shape and execute cloud strategies that drive innovation and business value. You’ll guide customers through architecture design, deployment, and operational excellence, helping them scale AI solutions, modernize applications, and optimize infrastructure on Microsoft Azure. This is an opportunity to make a meaningful impact by enabling customers to realize the full potential of the cloud. This role is flexible in that you can work up to 50% from home.Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

Responsibilities

Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders and executives (e.g., CTO, CIO) at large enterprise customers, helping define and execute transformative Cloud & AI strategies

Providing technical vision and leadership for complex, high-impact projects.Proactively using expert knowledge in customer conversations to influence solutions and drive consumption

Lead and accelerate Azure consumption plans, ensuring alignment to customer successInspire customer innovation by helping them adopt AI at scale, guiding them through their transformation journey with confidence and clarity

Anticipate and resolve critical business and technical challenges to accelerate value realisation.Lead architectural design workshops and oversee the implementation and quality assurance of secure, scalable, and resilient end-to-end solutions, leveraging Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF), Well-Architected Framework (WAF), and best practices to optimize mission-critical workloads.

Collaborate with account teams and leadership to support account planning, deal creation, and execution of consumption and customer success plans.

Share responsibility for Azure and Unified Health within accounts, supporting expansion, renewal, and next-best workload motions

Demonstrate mastery across AI applications, infrastructure, and data, enabling production-scale AI use cases.

Stay ahead of the curve by maintaining advanced certifications and deep technical expertise across priority workloads such as Azure AI Foundry, GitHub, App Services, Databricks, Fabric, and more

Demonstrate a growth mindset by continuously developing your skills, aligning with business priorities, and contributing to a culture of learning and excellence.

Mentor and upskill the technical community fostering a culture of learning and innovation. This includes, acting as a spokesperson and thought leader both internally and externally.

Qualifications

Required/minimum qualifications

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, Liberal Arts, or related field AND experience in cloud/infrastructure technologies, information technology (IT) consulting/support, systems administration, network operations, software development/support, technology solutions, practice development, architecture, and/or consulting OR equivalent experience.Additional or preferred qualificationsBachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, Liberal Arts, or related field AND experience in cloud/infrastructure technologies, information technology (IT) consulting/support, systems administration, network operations, software development/support, technology solutions, practice development, architecture, and/or consulting OR Master's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, Liberal Arts, or related field AND 8+ years experience in cloud/infrastructure technologies, technology solutions, practice development, architecture, and/or consulting OR equivalent experience.Experience working in a customer-facing role (e.g., internal and/or external).Experience leading technical projects.Technical Certification in Cloud (e.g., Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google, security certifications).

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.